Envive Experts For Your Health and Wellness

April 2010

April 21, 2010

If you are looking for a tasty food that can help lower cholesterol, regulate blood pressure, and protect against heart disease and stroke, reach for an avocado. This versatile fruit (botanically, it's actually a large berry), can be used in everything from guacamole to ice cream to soup. It's a good source of vitamin K, dietary fiber, potassium and folate. While avocados are very low in sodium and cholesterol-free, don't overdo it, as they do contain fat, albeit the heart-healthy, monounsaturated kind. This time of year the Bacon, Fuerto and Zutano varieties are ready to eat - if you buy one that's hard, you can speed up the ripening process by placing it in a paper bag for a few days.

After a long, snowy winter, now is the time we look forward to bringing in the fresh air, decluttering the closets and giving our homes a thorough scrubbing. Spring-cleaning – an annual ritual we learned from our mothers – traditionally resulted in our homes filled with the vapors and residue of harsh, toxic chemical cleaners. Odors that make our eyes water, nose sting and irritate our throat and skin…this is what we have been programmed to think “clean” smells like.

But there are safer alternatives that will get the job done and won’t compromise our health.

Here are 5 easy eco and family friendly spring-cleaning tips:

1. Use non-toxic cleaning products. When it comes to general all-purpose cleaning, the simplest and safest products are probably right there in your food pantry. Distilled white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, cornstarch and salt work great along side non-toxic cleaners such as GTC’s all-purpose, glass cleaner, hand dish soap and laundry liquid. (www.imusranchfoods.com)

2. For cleaning and polishing wood furniture and floors, use essential oil of lemon with organic olive oil. A tablespoon of olive oil and a few drops of lemon oil on a cloth will clean and polish your wood furniture.

3. Bring nature indoors. House plants not only boost oxygen levels, they can absorb dangerous airborne toxins including benzene, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, formaldehyde and polyvinyl chloride (PVCs). Philodendrons, green spider plants, dracaenas, palms, and ferns are considered to be some of the most effective at reducing gaseous pollutants in the air.

4. Reduced dust, mold spores and allergen particles by using HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters. HEPA filters are available in air purifiers and vacuums and can be installed in air conditioning units.

5. Find a “green” dry-cleaner that offers the environmentally preferable technologies such as wet cleaning. Most conventional dry-cleaners use a highly toxic bioaccumulative chemical called percholoroethylene, or PERC. Studies have linked PERC to cancer, neurological, reproductive and vision problems. Wet cleaning is becoming more popular and employs industrial-size machines that operate similarly to washing machines but are much gentler and designed to prevent shrinkage and maintain the shape of your garm

7 Drugs That Can Kill Children with a Single Pill

Even parents who keep medicines out of their children's reach are at risk of an emergency.

The Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America notes that in 50 percent of all childhood accidental poisonings, the medication bottle was only "out" for a short amount of time as it was being used.

Here are some of the more common medicines that can lead to emergencies when accidentally ingested by kids:

Heart Pills -- In children, they can cause dangerously low blood pressure and heart rate, and even lead to shock.

Muscle Rubs -- Camphor is especially dangerous because ingesting it works so quickly; symptoms occur within 10-20 minutes, and often children can go into seizures without any warning.

Prescription Pain Medications -- For an infant, even half a tablet of hydrocodone can be lethal.

Aspirin and Oil of Wintergreen -- Oil of wintergreen is particularly hazardous because its pleasant smell tempts toddlers to ingest it, but one teaspoon of oil of wintergreen is the equivalent of nearly 90 baby aspirins -- a life-threatening dose for a toddler or child.

Antidepressants -- After pain medications, antidepressants are the second highest cause of accidental death from poisoning in children younger than 6.

Blood Pressure Patches, Eye Drops, and Nasal Sprays -- These medications, designed to be absorbed over time through your skin, can lead to serious consequences when ingested by a toddler. As little as 6 ml can lead to a coma.

Diabetes Drugs -- As these medications are more commonly prescribed, the incidenc